Passover Story Relates Lesson About Freedom

April 23, 1986|By James D. Davis, Religion Editor

The world`s longest running freedom festival, Passover, will begin for Jews at sundown today, its reverent power undimmed by 3,400 years.

As they sit down to symbolic dinners and listen to the epic story of Egyptian slavery and supernatural liberation, Jews again will ponder the meaning and lessons of freedom -- and the people who have yet to gain it.

``One of Passover`s official names is Zeman Herut Teynu, the Season of Our Freedom,`` said Rabbi Theodore Feldman, president of the South (Palm Beach County) Rabbinical Association. ``Each year God`s plan for humans is freedom.

``The basic character of being human is free will, to choose good or evil,`` said Feldman, rabbi of B`nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton. ``To exercise that, we need freedom.

``With each choice we make, we should be aware that it has consequences. Passover is that lesson to the world.``

``We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt; and Moses was sent down to free our people from bondage . . . ,`` the head of each Jewish family will tell those seated at the seder table tonight. The seder, a formal meal, recounts the biblical story of how God freed thousands of Hebrew slaves -- the spiritual ancestors of modern Jewry.

The Passover ritual looks not only to the past, but to a dim, hoped-for future. At each seder table an extra cup of wine is poured for Elijah, the biblical prophet who is expected to return ``before the great and terrible day of the Lord.`` He will usher in the Messiah, who will create a world of peace and justice, the devout believe.

Although some Jews still await for a personal redeemer, many, such as Rabbi Harold Richter, talk in terms of a ``messianic era`` instead. Richter, president of the South Broward Council of Rabbis, voiced faith that it is already happening.

``Every 2,000 years there is a new shift in world consciousness,`` Richter said. ``It always begins with the avant-garde, then spreads to the grass roots. I believe there is a togetherness taking place now that will end in a messianic era.``

Rabbis mention a strong ``counter-theme`` of Passover: oppression. Hundreds of thousands of Jews have applied for exit visas from the Soviet Union, but that regime for years has held the modern exodus to a trickle.

There is also the ``mental oppression`` of terrorism, with guerrilla groups holding whole populations hostage, said Rabbi Alan Sherman. He is community relations director for the Jewish Federation of the Palm Beaches.

``If people are afraid of traveling to the Middle East, for instance, they are not free,`` Sherman said.

``We talk of freeing Soviet Jews, but when they get out, what do we present them? They`ve been fighting for their religious rights. But when they see we`re not keeping the traditions, they go into cultural shock.``

Passover lasts for a week, but Jews can experience it all year by practicing their faith, Tennenhaus said.

``Every day, a person should consider that he has gone out of Egypt,`` he said. ``Every day we can leave our natural confinements and attach ourselves to a God that is limitless.

``Passover is once a year, but the spirit of the holiday is every day.``